Hospital bed



W. J. DUVALL HOSPITAL BED June 1 4, 1932.

' Filed June 18, 1927 o WN Patented June 14, 1932 Unirse STATES PATE-Nromen WILLIAM J. DUVALL, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASS'IGNOR T0 SMITH &v:DAVIS \1VLA.NUFAC l,

'TUBING COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION 0F MISSOURIVnosrrrnr BED Y Application filed June 18,

This invention pertains to beds and more particularly to beds havingadjustable members, such as are used in hospitals. rlhis application ,is`a continuation, as to its common subject matter, of application Ser.110.691,-

308, filed February 7, 1924. s

vOne 4of the objects of this invention is to provide a hospital bedhaving head and foot rests which may be raised and lowered in a .simpleand vconvenient manner.

Another ,object is toy provide such a bed in which `the manipulationsfor raising' and lowering the rests can be carried out entirely from`the foot end of the bed.

Another object is to-provide such a bed of improved construction, inwhich the stresses incident tothe raising and lowering of the restsarereduced.

Further .objects will appear from the following jdescriptiomtaken inconnection with the accompanying drawing,`in which- Figure 1 is aperspective view of a hospital bed embodying this invention;

Figure 2 is a detail section on line2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail bottom pla-n view of the adjustingscrews.; and v Figure 4 is an enlarged detail perspective view of thecrank mounting.

Referring to the drawing, 1 designates a bed frame of ordinaryconstruction, such as angle iron, and mounted in the l.usual manner in ahead frame 2 and a foot frame 3 provided with casters 4 in the usualway.' ,Pivoted at 5 intermediate the ends of the frame 1 is .45 end witha roller 12, which rolls upon lthe angle frame 1 so as to reducefriction.

A link 13 is also secured at 9 tothe bracket 10cm each side of the bed.rlhis 'link is further secured to the cross head by a brace 14.

The brace 14 provides that thrust or pull 1927. Serial No. 199,660.

exerted on the cross head by the link 13 will be effective in movingsaid cross head lalong the bed frame without any tendency to -tip orcant the same in either direction. The forward ends of the links 13 are'secured at 15 to alblock or actuator 16 threaded to receive a screw 17-mounted in bearings 18 and 19 on Vthe yframe 1. It willbe seen -thatjbyrotation of the screw 14, the block 16 may be worked forwardly orrearwardly Aalong the frame 1. Such movement will then be transmittedthrough the-links 13 tothe cross head 11. As the cross headmoveslt'oward the foot of the bed, lthe links -8 will tend to f lie flatupon Athe frame 1. The links I8,* however, will not be parallel thereto,'since zthe ends connected to the 'bracket 10 `are vvoffset downward-lyby saidvrbra'cket. Accordingly, a forward p-ull (that is, toward the'foot of the bed) onthelinks 13 will be transmitted through the links 8with an upward component tending to raise the rest 6. There is nopossibility, therefore, of the vlink V8 ge'tting stuck on dead center. YY

Mounted on the head endof the frame 1 and "between said head end and thecross head 11 is a pair of strong compression springs 20, As the crosshead 11 moves rearwardly, it will engage the springs 20 before Sioinally coming to rest, and its movement will be retarded 'and cushionedthereby. This will prevent the dropping of the rest 6 with aV suddenyslam at the end of its movement.l The springs 20 will also tend tomaintain da forward pressure on the cross head 11', tend'- ing to raisethe rest 6. `Since when the resti6 is lying iiat on the frame f1',thelinks 8 are nearly in Adead center position with -refer ence to thepivots 5, a much greater'pnll on the cross head will be required tostart I rest 6 from its lying position; and, aecordingly, .an excessivestrain on the links 13 and the screw 17 during this part of the movementwill be avoided. Furthermore, an excessive effort on the part of the.operator to start the rest 6 will be avoided.

A foot rest 21, U-shaped like the head rest, is pivoted at its ends 22to a pair of arms 23, which latter are in turn pivoted at 24 to theframe 1; and a cross member 25 oining the arms 23, so as to render themrigid, may also be provided. Pivoted to the foot rest at 22 is a pair oflinks 26 connected at their lower ends at 27 with a cross head 28sliding on the frame 1 and carrying a block or actuator 29 threaded toreceive a second adjusting screw 30, mounted in bearings 31 and 32 inthe frame 1 in a manner similar to the mounting of the screw 17. Byturning the screw 30, the block 29 and, therefore, the cross head 28 maybe worked back and forth along the frame. During such movement, thelinks 26 operate to raise and lower the foot rest 21 as illustrated inFigure 1. A spring wire mesh 33 may be stretched within the rests 6 and21 and the frame 5 in any well known manner so as to provide a supportfor a mattress or the like.

Each of the screws 17 and 30 is provided with a crank 34 which ispivoted at 35 to a shank 36 formed on the screw. The end of the shank isflattened, as may be seen from Figure 4, and the end of the crank isforked so as to embrace the flattened end of the shank. Each prong ofthe fork is provided with a circular head having formed therein atopposite sides notches 37. Surrounding the shank 36 is a sleeve 38tensioned by a spring 39 also surrounding said shank. The sleeve 38 hasend portions 40 extending along the shank 36 and between the prongs ofthe fork at the forked end of the crank. The sleeve 38 is provided withlugs 41 adapted to engage in the notches 37 under tension of the Spring39 so as to secure the crank 34 in either extended or reversed position.

The screws 17 and 30 are mounted laterally adjacent one another at thefoot end of the bed and are entirely independent. Each one projectsslightly beyond the foot frame 3 in such a position that the crank 34,when turned out to extended position, as illustrated in Figure 3, willextend beyond the foot frame so that the crank may be swung around inorder to turn the screw. When not in use, however, the crank may beturned on its pivot 35 to the reverse position, as shown in Figure 1,the lugs 41 engaging the other notches 37 so as to hold the crank inthis position.

It will thus be seen that the invention accomplishes itsl objects. Thearrangement of the rest 6, the links 8 and the crosshead 11 is such thatthere is a toggle (or rather a pair of toggles) formed by theseelements, and when the backrest 6 is dropped, the toggle is nearlystraightened. Accordingly, a slight movement of the crosshead along theframe will cause a considerable movement of the backrest, especially atits free end. Upon actuation of the screw 17, there is, therefore,

liable to be a sudden start imparted to the backrest when it is moved toraised position and a rather abrupt stoppage thereof when it is moved todropped position. This is especially true if a screw is used whichnecessarily has back lash so that the initial or final movementsimparted to the crosshead will result in the taking up of the back lashthereby imparting a sudden jar. In accordance with this invention,however, the springs 2O bear against the crosshead when the backrest isin dropped position and, therefore, when compressed tend to move thecrosshead to the right. Accordingly, when the screw 17 is turned to movethe crosshead along the frame, this crosshead will be initially startedby these springs so that the toggle will be fully broken before thelagging faces of the screw thread come into play; accordingly, the:backrest will be raised, gently rather than with a start. Moreover,upon dropping of this backrest, the springs 20 will become compressed soas to yieldingly arrest the crosshead and the backrest in droppedposition; accordingly, the backrest will be dropped gently and withoutshock or jar.

1t will be seen, therefore, that this invention provides a hospital bedwhich is convenient to handle, since both of the screws 17 and 30 arelocated adjacent the foot of the bed, and their cranks are easilyaccessible for manipulation. rFhe manipulation is easy, because thescrews may be provided with threads of such la pitch that the eiiiort,"required to turn the crank is as small as desired. The cross heads 28and 11 move along the frame and raise the rests by means of a toggleaction of the links 26 and 8. By the movement of the cross head 11, thesame is rigidly braced against the links 13 so that there is no chanceof its tipping or twisting, and it moves evenly and smoothly. At the endof its movement, it engages the springs 20, which cushion its finalmovement and at the saine time tension the same so as to pro vide partof the effort for starting the movement of raising the head rest. Theentire apparatus is inconspicuous and practically invisible when the bedis made up.

It is obvious that various changes may be made, within the scope of theappended claim, in the details of construction without departing fromthe spirit of this invention; it is to be understood, therefore, thatthis invention is not limited to the speciic details shown anddescribed.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

A hospital bed comprising, a frame, a rest pivoted on said frameintermediate its ends, a crosshead guided for movement along said frame,links Connecting said head with said rest to form toggles with thelatter, a screw extending along said frame and connected With said headto move the same back and l' forth along said frame, and springs betweenthe end of said frame and the ends of said head and adaptedautomatically to apply a force to said head to start and arrest saidhead.

In testimony whereof I aX my signature this 11th day of June, 1927.

WILLIAM J. DUVALL.

